Day 04: Islands Of Adventure

Writing todays blog on the go while we wait in the queues, as its going to be a late one so wont have much time tonight (edit: yeah that plan would have worked if my battery didn’t run out and I remembered my charger :/)

The short of it…

So full day at Islands of Adventure today, plan was to ensure we did at least Spider-man, Jurassic Park & Harry Potter as they were all recommended and with the time we had left have a sneak preview of Universal Studios for tomorrows visit. Ended up spending the full day at Islands and heading home slightly earlier than anticipated, good day though and the rides we went on were all really great. The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter was really exceptional though - so much detail and thought to getting everything perfect, it really is a sight to be seen. We were suffering a little from yesterday and all had slightly red shoulders so tried to keep Grace out of the sun as much as possible - didnt seem to get to her though, she was brilliant.

Islands Of Adventure

So first day at a Universal Park and we have free transfers to/from the hotel, though it is only down the road, but they were free nonetheless. Looking into getting Express Passes beforehand, Universals Queue Buster, and it worked out about $850.00 for all of us for two days, so not really an option (at the end of the day, the longest we ever queued for was about an hour for the rides the kids could get on, so really glad we didn’t fork out for this). We did however get the meal deal and refillable drinks promos, which gave us unlimited food & drink for the whole day at selected locations, so had some breakfast/lunch at Comic Book Cafe!

Some rides were just too big for the kids, so skipped on The Hulk roller coaster (looks pretty awesome though) and went for The Amazing Adventures Of Spider-Man first. 70 min queue and mum stayed with Grace while the rest of us went in. It only took just under an hour so wasn’t too bad, plus we got to watch some Spidey cartoons while we waited so all good! The ride was simply astounding and have to say its the best ride I’ve ever been on, even topping my previous favourite, Back To The Future at Universal (which sadly isn’t with us anymore). It was an amazing 4D thrill ride battling Doc Ock, Hob-Goblin and other Marvel Super-baddies (but we helped our friendly neighbourhood Spiderman defeat them in the end). The boys really enjoyed it and Robert gave it 20 out of 10 Minions (our Universal ride rating system) - not sure he gets what ‘out of 10’ means. Anyway 10/10, highly recommended and definitely doing it again tomorrow.

One of the exciting points of the day for me was getting my photograph with Storm and Rogue from X-Men!!! Such a big kid! :) Rogue could touch me anytime… like to take my superpower coz thats what she does? ;)

We bypassed Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw falls due to the 90 minute wait and wee Gracie being confined to her stroller for the last while (bloody buggy Gerry! jeez, few days in and I’m conforming to Americanisms already). Patrick really wanted to do it so we promised to return.

Welcome To Jurassic Park!

So on to Jurassic Park and it was really cool entering this part of the park with the theme tune blaring and the big archways holding up the the Jurassic Park sign in its distinguishing typeface. The River Adventure ride was great, it was just the boys that participated with Patrick panicking a little, thinking there would be big drops (he really doesnt do heights well). A Sir Richard Attenborough (aka John Hammond) monologue accompanied again by the theme tune kicks off this water ride and sends a big chill down your spine, just like the movie. Good ride and the kids really liked it especially the T-Rex (which was a dragon according to Robert). 8/10.

The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter!

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Our first stop into Harry Potter World we make a bee-line for the Butterbeer cart (just coz that’s whatcha gotta do). It was nice and cool and could have happily drunk it all day (though it unfortunately wasn’t part of the unlimited drinks we could get :( )

As we drank our Butterbeers, admiring the quaint little snowcapped village of Hogsmeade, we were treated to a stage performance by some ladies from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and some lads from the Durmstrang Institute. Was quite a nice unexpected show and the Beauxbatons ladies in particular matched and kept their character perfectly. Ooo laa laa…

Aye, y'know how I said Spider-Man was my favourite? It only held that title until Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey came along a few hours later. Wee Robert was just inches short of the required height (which they’re quite strict on) and so was upset about that. Patrick on the other hand was upset that it looked like it might be a roller coaster, so opted out. Even Sadie & Wullie shyed away at the thought of an exhilarating fast paced ride. So it was only me and Ann who joined the Gryffindor ranks (normally if the kids weren’t on board I would have just moved on to another ride but this came highly recommended). In truth it was nothing like a roller coaster, but I’ll come to that in a bit. After the initial queues through the dungeons, passing Snapes storeroom of potions and through Professor Sprout’s Mandrake greenhouse, you’re cast into a wonderfully engaging trip through the halls of Hogwarts. Talking paintings, holographic characters, the sorting hat, even the snow falling in the Great Hall make this a truly amazing Harry Potter experience - and that’s just in the queue!!! The ride itself was a masterpiece and had you flying through the air in every direction, battling Dragons, dodging the Womping Willow and getting a run over on the Quidditch pitch. Mum, Dad and Patrick missed out on THE best ride in the park, bar none. 20/10 ;)

Afterwards we sampled the delights of the sweet shop in Hogsmeade and purchased an iconic array of confectionery including a chocolate frog and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. There were actually all different kinds of flavours, Ann got Sausage and Robert got Rotten Egg, though I’m really lucky I got Watermelon and missed out on the Vomit and Earthworm flavours! :)

Harry Potter: The Return

So grabbed a bite to eat after all the Harry Potter stuff, pretty much skipping out on a whole section of the park to get to the restaurant in Seuss Landing - a land filled with larger than life characters and objects from the wonderful Dr. Seuss Universe. My dad was pretty tired and said he was going to head home after that rather than stay till closing. However we managed to persuade him, mum and Patrick to trek back to Harry Potter, see what the wait times were like and go on the ride, which we did, so I got to go on it again! :D They really enjoyed it too. We exited and found Ann had been to Olivanders and picked up some wands for the kids. A little disappointed that I didn’t get to go in, but I suppose I got the better deal in the end. I also got a chalice in the form of the Tri-Wizard cup so really no quarrels from me :)

Now it was getting late and the park was clearing, meaning the queue times dropped significantly, so we took Robert on a little coaster that he was tall enough for called Flight of the Hippogriff. Queue time was like 5 minutes. Great! The ride was nice and Robert was satisfied well enough. 6/10 minions.

Could have stayed a lot longer at this point knowing that queue times would be minimal but everyone was getting a little tired so didn’t jump on anything else (we did exit via Dudley Do-Rights to check wait times for that, but was higher than everyone was willing to wait so called it a day).

It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!

So never got to try out Universal in the end and missed some rides - though I think the ones we went on were the pick of the bunch. With what went down today, I’m now really looking forward to Universal tomorrow and hopefully Grace will get to try out more rides - she has already expression a need to ride Despicable Me Minion Mayhem with extreme excitement.

Over and out for another day! :)